Hardens Guide to the Best Restaurants in Balsall Common
Hardens guides have spent 33 years compiling reviews of the best Balsall Common restaurants. On Hardens.com you'll find details and reviews of 62 restaurants in Balsall Common and our unique survey based approach to rating and reviewing Balsall Common restaurants gives you the best insight into the top restaurants in every area and of every type of cuisine.
Featured Balsall Common Restaurants
1. Sabai Sabai
Thai restaurant in Birmingham
268 High Street - B17
Husband and wife team, Torquil and Juree Chidwick, first opened Sabai Sabai as a small, cosy, family-run Thai restaurant in Moseley 10 years ago. Proving a real hit with the locals they opened the Harborne restaurant, oozing a subtle eastern sophistication with carved wooden b...
2. Loxleys
British, Traditional restaurant in Stratford upon Avon
3 Sheep St - CV37
“More of a bistro/wine bar, but with a reasonably varied and interesting menu” – this two-floor operation has “modern décor” contrasting with its historic location near the RSC, and wins consistent praise, “particularly the set menu which is very good value”. “Kind staff” help make it “a real local favourite”.
3. Raja Monkey
restaurant in Hall Green
1355 Stratford Road - B28
This modern Indian street food restaurant (run by the Lasan Group) inspires only a limited amount of feedback, but such as we have suggests it’s a very good bet in this leafy burb. It must be doing something right, as in 2023 they announced the opening of a spin-off in Harborne.
4. Nuthurst Grange
British, Modern restaurant in Hockley Heath
Nuthurst Grange Ln - B94
A superb privately owned country house hotel, restaurant, conference centre & wedding venue, residing in the outstanding natural beauty of the Warwickshire countryside.The AA two rosettes restaurant provides a variety of menu options from a two course lu...
5. Sabai Sabai
Thai restaurant in Stratford upon Avon
19-20 Wood Street - CV37
Limited but good all-round feedback for this modern Thai restaurant – part of Torquil and Juree Chidwick’s Midlands-based small group (this is the only one outside Birmingham). Menu options include a pre-theatre deal, as well as a bottomless lunch option at weekends.
6. Sabai Sabai
Thai restaurant in Birmingham
25 Woodbridge Road - B13
Torquil and Juree Chidwick’s Moseley Village fixture is celebrating its twentieth year (est. 2003) and continues to inspire solid feedback for its ‘true taste of Thailand’. Over the last twelve months, they expanded further with a new Solihull outpost, complete with outside seating.
7. Lambs
British, Modern restaurant in Stratford upon Avon
12 Sheep Street - CV37
“Situated in a fine historic timbered house (one of the city’s oldest), Lambs of Sheep Street has been satisfying its customers for about a quarter of a century”, with “more of a feel of authenticity to it” than the many eateries in this tourist-trap town. The reasonably priced fare may be “a little predictable” but is reliably “pleasing” – and you won’t need to chase the “attentive” staff to make curtain-up at the nearby RSC.
8. Black & Green
British, Modern restaurant in Barnt Green
49 Hewell Road - B45
“A very small restaurant in the small, attractive, well-heeled north Worcestershire village of Barnt Green with tables and a counter at which some diners are sat in very close proximity of the culinary action”. With just 18 seats, it’s owned by chef Andrew Sheridan, and although he recently left Brum for his native Liverpool, he continues to show an interest locally with the August 2023 acquisition of nearby coffee and brunch venue, The Garrity. At Black & Green, his team “delivers a well-balanced six-course tasting menu, often with original ingredients. Many of the dishes are brought to table by the chefs themselves”.
9. The Opposition
British, Modern restaurant in Stratford upon Avon
13 Sheep Street - CV37
“A great and very consistent local restaurant that always looks after you well” – this “cheap ’n’ cheerful” bistro near the RSC is well worth remembering if you are looking for a decent meal in this touristy town: “the food is excellent and pricing keen”.
10. Cheal’s
British, Modern restaurant in Knowle
1630 High Street - B93
Stop Press – in February 2023, ex-Simpson’s head chef Matt Cheal closed down his popular Henley-in-Arden venture, which was too small for his planned expansion, and upped sticks eight miles down the road to Knowle High Street, where he now co-runs things with the manager of the Jacques fine dining restaurant which previously stood in the new location. According to early reports, “the exceptional quality of Cheal’s food, not up till now as appreciated as it ought to be, has not deteriorated in its relocation”, while the new space – a former bank with a posh cocktail bar – is “comfortable” (if “a little too glitzy” for some tastes).
11. The Cross at Kenilworth
British, Modern restaurant in Kenilworth
16 New St - CV8
“In the Premier League of food pubs”, this “beautiful old building with a pleasant garden and an intimate atmosphere” offers highly ambitious “fine dining” food that’s both “delicious and prettily presented” from Adam Bennett, formerly head chef at the grand Simpson’s in Birmingham (a sister venue also owned by Andreas Antona). The cooking is “very well executed, while service combines the professional with the friendly”. “Prices are inevitably rising, but it’s always good value” and “still the local top restaurant” – “there’s nowhere else we prefer to go… after 125 visits and counting!!”.
12. The Boot
British, Modern restaurant in Lapworth
Old Warwick Rd - B94
2022 Review: “A real gem in our local area” – this branch in the stylish, seven-strong Warwickshire-based 'Lovely Pubs' group has a lot to recommend it: “service is on the right side of friendly and very attentive”, they serve “great pub food, but restaurant quality” (including “fantastic seafood platters”), and if you stick to the main bar downstairs, there's plenty of atmosphere too.
13. Purnell’s Café & Bistro at Charterhouse
British, Modern restaurant in Coventry
Charterhouse Priory of St Anne, London Road - CV1
Only recently opened, in early 2023, ‘Yummy Brummie’ Glynn Purnell (operating in partnership with Historic Coventry Trust), launched this cafe and pizzeria in the cloisters of a Grade I-listed 14th Century former Carthusian monastery. “It’s similar to Purnell’s Plates in Birmingham serving delicious and very good-value small dishes, tapas style” and “the setting is beautiful – a spacious, modern and comfortable conservatory in this historic building in a lovely park on the outskirts of Coventry”.
14. Tailors
British, Modern restaurant in Warwick
22 Market Place - CV34
2022 Review: This former fishmonger, butcher, casino, tailor etc. is acclaimed by locals for its “perfect fine dining in an intimate setting”. After pandemic lockdowns, it’s “back with a subtle but impactful makeover and a great new tasting menu” – now the only option, and ringing in at £65 for six courses.
15. The Art Kitchen
Thai restaurant in Warwick
7 Swan St - CV34
2022 Review: Hilary & Barrie Cload's homage to Royal Thai cuisine (est. 2004) enjoys a “very pleasant” art gallery setting, and its “wonderful, beautifully presented” food just “never disappoints”; they also do a “great deal involving ‘lunch boxes’ which are delicious”.
16. La Coppola
Italian restaurant in Leamington Spa
14 The Parade - CV32
2023 Review: “A great surprise! An authentic Italian restaurant with a broad menu of very good food and wine” – “delivered with panache and generosity”. The “beautiful and romantic decor, with cherry trees garlanded with tiny lights” only adds to the appeal.
17. The Crabmill
Mediterranean restaurant in Preston Bagot
2021 Review: “Much improved by a change of owners” (the all-conquering Brunning & Price), this seventeenth century pub in “beautiful surroundings” – a hamlet “out in Warwickshire’s lush countryside” – wins applause for “upmarket pub food at a reasonable price point”, and which comes “allied to lovely service” to boot.
18. Oscars French Bistro
French restaurant in Leamington Spa
39 Chandos Street - CV32
2023 Review: “The epitome of the proper French bistro as you would have found in France 25 years ago”, owned by acclaimed butchers, Aubrey Allen. “Pascal the patron excels at providing excellent meat and fish dishes that are always reliable, and service is friendly even when they are packed!”
19. The Tame Hare
British, Modern restaurant in Leamington Spa
97 Warwick Street - CV32
2021 Review: “Pleasant and friendly” venue off the main drag: modern British dishes are “clearly made with both love and knowledge” in the semi-open kitchen, and “it’s good to interact with the chefs as they serve a course”; reasonable prices too.
20. The Moorings at Myton
British, Modern restaurant in Leamington Spa
Myton Road - CV31
2022 Review: It’s “nice to eat outside by the canal on a sunny day” at this well-run casual spot, with a useful menu of grills and sarnies.
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